-
Continue reading →: Mine by Adam Ouston
Australian fiction – published August 2026 Searching for inspiration for his final work, an unnamed poet and activist for the Tasmanian wilderness finds himself trapped down an abandoned mine in the island’s mountain rainforests.Enveloped by darkness, claustrophobia begins to take hold, and he is visited by hallucinations and delirium, which…
-
Continue reading →: Syöte National Park7 months exactly after his birth Rua lifted his leg to take a piss. A landmark day. Raja took about twice that, at least a month after he was a year old. With his new found skill he has started marking his territory rather than just squatting to release his…
-
Continue reading →: Black September by Sandro Verenesitranslated from the Italian by Michael F. Moore This is the coming of age story of a twelve-year-old boy, Gigio Bellandi, told in his own voice, over the course of a summer in the small seaside town on the Tuscan coast in 1972, during which he discovers a love of…
-
Continue reading →: The Barman of the Ritz by Philippe Collin
translated from the French by Frank Wynne – published September 2026 In 1940, as German forces occupy Paris, 55 year old Frank Meier runs the bar at the Ritz and is famous for his cocktail making. The bar has been a huge part of his life and, while concealing that…
-
Continue reading →: Mayfly Season by Matthias Jügler
translated from the German by Jo Heinrich – published August 2026 Hans and Katrin had a son, Daniel, in 1978, but the day after the birth, doctors tell the couple the baby has died from a weak heart on the way to hospital. Time passes and they grieve, but Katrin…
-
Continue reading →: A Few Days in Sweden on the Luleå Archipelago coastI managed to get my appointment with the Swedish Migration government office in their northernmost outpost, the town of Luleå on the Gulf of Bothnia. Before, and after, I stayed nights on Seskarö Island, where there are many hiking trails through the pine forest that wind their way to secluded…
-
Continue reading →: The Ghost of the Mountains: Unraveling the Secrets of the Snow Leopard by Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi
Indian Literature – nonfiction – published August 2025 Dr Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi travelled across the snow leopard landscape of the world for his doctoral dissertation. He is a scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) Bengaluru, and director of the India programme of the Snow Leopard Trust. He has studied the…
-
Continue reading →: A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-young
Translated from the Korean by Sophie Bowman – published August 2026 This is the fourth in the very entertaining Lovecraft Reanimated series published by Honford Star which features leading Korean writers of speculative fiction reimagining the works of horror great. This is a retelling of The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Muyoung,…
-
Continue reading →: John of John by Douglas Stuart
Scottish Literature – published May 2026 Though the story was easy to read and frequently compelling, two days on after finishing it and it sits uncomfortably with me. There’s little light in the book, the characters are generally miserable, and not described in the detail expected from Stuart’s previous books.…
-
Continue reading →: South to the Bothnian SeaAt the marina at Miekojärvi lake in the small community of Sirkkakoski there was another motorhome, linked up to the electricity in the community fishing building. On the site also was a large luxury sled catering house, which was empty. Despite the rain on the day I arrived, I did…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias. Rua is my fox red labrador pup, born 14 Feb 2026 and learning fast..
Where is Rua?
I was so much older then…
Quote of the Week
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, ‘What road do I take?’ The cat asked, ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it really doesn’t matter, does it?’
Lewis Carroll
Safe Return Doubtful 